Increasing adoption and relevance of PD activities

West Hills STEM Academy

Teachers and coaches at West Hills STEM Academy are using IRIS Connect to make sure professional development time is focused on aspects that are most relevant to each individual classroom and seeing impact the very next day.

Julie Lordon, Teacher at West Hills, explains how her previous PD experiences were mainly idea-based, but weren’t always relevant to her classroom. This resulted in a lack of implementation:

“You spend one day learning about some new strategy or curriculum, but it’s very separated from the real world.”

This changed when the academy adopted IRIS Connect, which she says is “probably been one of the most meaningful and relevant tools that we have used to really reflect and improve our teaching practices.”

Even experienced Teacher, Connie Wheeler, who was reluctant to use the system at first as she is retiring from teaching in a year, has seen value:

“I could really see this as a tool that you’d use frequently in your classroom; just for yourself, even if you chose to never share it with anyone else.”

Use of IRIS Connect has also made the academy’s coaching programmes easier, as Desiree Hall, Teacher and Coach at West Hills, explains:

“I can be in multiple rooms at the same time without actually being there.”